Asia and Oceania Thyroid Association

A note from Ashok Bhaseen, President of Thyroid Federation International

“There are still many people living with some kind of thyroid disorder without diagnosis. The International Thyroid Awareness Week is now in its 11th year, and I promise, we at Thyroid Federation International and its member countries won’t rest until testing and diagnosis rates improve globally. This year we’re helping people to recognize the many faces of thyroid disorders so they can visit a healthcare professional and get tested as soon as possible.“

Look for patient programs on education and awareness in your country or visit the Thyroid Federation website in your country.

How to get involved in this year’s campaign

If you’re on social media, keep up with the campaign via our channels on Twitter and Facebook, and play your part in the global movement by using the hashtag #ITAW19. This will help us raise awareness of thyroid disorders, which affect more than 200 million people worldwide as per ATA (American Thyroid Association).

Visit us on www.thyroidweek.org and www.thyroid-fed.org

Why are we doing this?

ITAW, now in its 11^th year, was created to highlight the detrimental impact that thyroid disorders have on people’s quality of life when left undiagnosed. Around 1.6 billion people worldwide are thought to be at risk, with hundreds of millions living with a thyroid condition right now.[i] Up to 60% of those living with a thyroid disorder are undiagnosed, and people may be needlessly struggling through their everyday lives without knowing the root cause of their symptoms.[ii]

However, once diagnosed, thyroid disorders are treatable, and the ITAW campaign is pushing hard to improve testing and diagnoses globally.

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i Khan A, Khan MM, Akhtar S. Thyroid disorders, etiology and prevalence. J Med Sci 2002; 2: 89–94. Available at: http://www.scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=jms.2002.89.94&org=11 Last accessed February 2019.

ii American Thyroid Association. General Information/Press Room. Available at: https://www.thyroid.org/media-main/press-room/  Last accessed February 2019.

The 12th Asia & Oceania Thyroid Association (AOTA) Congress held in Lotte Hotel Busan, Korea, during March 16-19, 2017 has been recently concluded with great success.
The congress was held in conjunction with Korea Thyroid Association (KTA) annual meeting and was co-chaired by Prof. Won Bae Kim and Prof. In Joo Kim. Since Korea had held the 4th AOTA congress chaired by Prof. Munho Lee, in Seoul, in 1989, it was the second time for Korea to host the AOTA congress.
The number of registered participants and accompanying persons in Busan AOTA 2017 was 592 from 25 countries represented (as of Mar 19). Participants were not only from AOTA member countries (Korea(324), Japan(61), Indonesia(61), Philippines(32), Taiwan(25), China(20), India(15), Australia(10), Singapore(8), Bangladesh(2), Iran(1)), but also from non-member countries (Malaysia(7), Thailand(5), Myanmar(3), Unites States(3), Canada(2), Germany(2), Morocco(2), Turkey(1), Oman(1), Saudi Arabia(1), Hong Kong(1), Russia(1), Netherland(1), Italy(1), and Kazahkstan(1)).

 The congress started on March 16th with preconference activities including Thyroid Ultrasound Course and Joint Symposium by Working Group of Asian Thyroid FNA Cytology. In opening session, Prof. Duncan Topliss from Australia delivered an opening lecture with the title of ‘Recent Advances in Thyroid Diseases’ and a Memorial Lecture for passed Professor Emeritus Dr. Shigenobu Nagataki was dedicated by Prof. Shunich Yamashita from Nagasaki, Japan.
Scientific program were consisted of plenary lecture, 2 special lectures, 11 symposium sessions, 10 meet-the-professor sessions, 12 oral sessions and so on, which is the most voluminous program ever in the AOTA congresses. Totally 319 abstracts were submitted for scientific sessions, and 8 papers were awarded as distinguished abstracts (Prakash Gangadaran from Bangladesh, Hidefumi Inaba, Shinichi Suzuki and Yasuyo Nakajima from Japan, Soo Yeon Hahn and Eun Ju Ha from Korea, Sukriti Kumar from India and Xiaoxiao Cao from China).

AOTA prize of year 2017 awardee was Prof. Weiping Teng from China, but AOTA prize lecture was cancelled due to absence of awardee. LOC supported 29 registrants with travel grants (500 USD for each) based on country of presenter (low –middle income countries by World Bank) and quality of abstract.
The congress was a great success not only in the number of participants but in quality of scientific sessions. The congress was closed, pledging to meet again in the next AOTA congress which will be held in Sydney, Australia in 2019.

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The city of Pusan in Southeastern Korea will be the site of the 12^th AOTA Congress to be held on March 16-19, 2017.  This will be the second time that the Congress will be held in Korea after the country hosted the 4^th Congress in April 1989.
The venue will be Lotte Hotel Busan, Korea (http://www.lottehotel.com/busan/ko/).
The Local Organizing Committee  that will handle the scientific and social programs will be reconstituted in September 2015.

The Program Organizing Committee (POC) of the 15th International Thyroid Congress had received 870 Regular Call Abstracts from the 4 Sister Societies in Thyroidology. AOTA contributed 268 abstracts from 10 Asian countries.
Out of these abstracts, AOTA POC chose the Top 20 Abstracts from Asia & Oceania from which 11 authors were recognized to receive the Young Investigators’ Award with the corresponding prize of US$ 1,000 each. They received their prizes during the AOTA General Assembly on October 19, 2015.
Below is the tabulations submitted by AOTA POC Chair Young Kee Shong:

The recently concluded 15^th International Thyroid Congress held in the Walt Disney Resort Swan & Dolphin Resort in Orlando, FL, USA, from October 18-23, 2015 had set some records of its own compared with previous ITCs.
The number of registered participants and accompanying persons in the Orlando ITC was 2,436 from 88 countries represented (as of October 19).  While this number was lower than the Paris ITC in 2010 which drew 3,326 participants and guests, there were more trainees (445 vs 371) in 2015.
There were 52.3% males compared with 47.7% female registrants.  The number of women was noted to be increasing compared with previous congresses.  More than the majority of the attendees were MD (59.1%) with MD-PhD (17.3%), PhD (9.8%), and DO, RN, PA, NP comprising 2%.
Endocrinologists account for 55.9% of participants, followed by Endocrine Surgeons (10.9%), Oncologists (4.5%), ENT (4.5%), Nuclear Medicine  (3.1%).  Participants described their work to be in the academe (39.6%), hospital based (32.9%), and private practice (13.7%).
The ITC is composed of 4 Sister Societies meeting together.  Attending the 15^th ITC were 516 ATA members, 122 ETA, 96 LATS and 87 AOTA.  However, Non-Members comprise a sizable number with ATA 245, AOTA 238, LATS 186 and ETA 144.
(The 15^th ITC data were shared by John Morris, ATA Secretary with Teofilo San Luis Jr, AOTA Secretary 2010-2015.)